More detail on the Warriors’ labored decision to keep Klay Thompson out of the Kevin Love trade discussionsPosted on
July 18, 2014by
Tim Kawakami
It hasn’t been a simple slam-dunk decision for Warriors co-owner Joe Lacob and GM Bob Myers–that’s what I’ve been repeatedly told in the last few days by several NBA sources, as the Kevin Love talks continue and the Warriors continue to resist Minnesota’s request for Klay Thompson.
The Warriors want Love, as do many other teams.
The Warriors also believe that Love would like being in the Bay Area, so they’re not overly worried about his ability to become a free agent next summer, though the pending free agency is a factor for everybody. (
He’ll be a max-contract guy, he’ll have power over his team until he signs it, all those things are factors.)
Also, as has been noted repeatedly, the Warriors value Thompson very highly, so… the GSW front office has debated this thoroughly–it’s not a clash of opinions, it’s just the way Joe Lacob has set up this management team; he hired strong personalities and he wants everybody to get around a table and express themselves.
Then Lacob and Myers make the call.
Which leads to: Late last night, a Warriors source flatly denied
a report that they are, indeed, offering Klay Thompson to Minnesota.
The source in fact sounded wholly and legitimately befuddled when I relayed the report, partly because the source had spent much of the previous few hours explaining to me why the Warriors would NOT offer Thompson in any such deal.
“It’s not true,” the source said of the new report.
You can say this is all just positioning and poker-playing, and there are obviously elements of all of that. As I’ve said for weeks, this is a fluid situation, it’s a negotiation, things can change. Things can ALWAYS change.
But I’ll just say that the sources I’ve talked to on this issue–will the Warriors offer Klay Thompson in a Love package–have been consistent, have raised exactly the same points, and explain the reasoning credibly and without puffy PR folderol.
Plus, if the Warriors were offering Thompson to Minnesota, let’s just say that the trade probably would’ve already happened by now.
So that’s why the new report surprised me–not because I believe the GSWS haven’t thought about trading Klay, but because I know they have; it’s because multiple sources say that after the debate, they’ve made the close call to keep Thompson out of it.
Close call. Agonizing call, by some descriptions. But that’s the call. (For now.)
Again, it’s also not as simple as the Warriors deciding that Thompson is too valuable to trade for Love.
The problem is “all of it,” one source said. The entirety of the deal points.
The suggestion is that Minnesota president & coach Flip Saunders is asking for so much that the Warriors do not believe that they can get enough back if they add Thompson into their offer.
And they sure don’t want to add Thompson only to have Saunders go back to Cleveland to get a better offer, and then go back to the GSWs and ask them to top Cleveland… and so on.
I don’t think Cleveland–reportedly now willing to discuss Andrew Wiggins as a part of a Love offer–wants any part of the raise, re-raise, re-re-raise scenario, either.
So my understanding is that the Warriors have decided to depart the process for now.
Let’s recap the extra pieces of the deal conversation…
-There’s the element of Saunders apparently requiring that the Warriors take back Kevin Martin’s $22M in any part of this deal;
-There’s the belief that the Warriors do not consider David Lee a throw-in and Minnesota apparently does;
-There’s the GSW focus on Thompson’s compatibility with Stephen Curry and the desire to always maximize Curry’s performance level;
-There’s the GSW opinion that if they subtract Thompson they don’t have a worthy 2-guard replacement and that the power of their current line-up is that they can put Curry and Thompson out there together–with Thompson defending the toughest, quickest perimeter opponents;
-There’s the knowledge that coach Steve Kerr likes this current lineup and especially Thompson and Curry as the guard tandem.
Essentially, it sounds like Lacob and Myers have decided that there is not enough of a compelling reason to put Thompson into this deal.
That could change. I was asked yesterday on Twitter how I might arrange an offer that includes Thompson, and I gave my thoughts (and infuriated a great many Minnesotans along the way, oh well)…
I theorized that the GSWs might only put Thompson into an offer if they can set conditions with Minnesota; those conditions, IN MY OPINION, might go something like, but not having to include ALL OF…
–Take KMartin’s $22M out of the deal and/or…
-Add either #1 pick Zach LaVine or…
-Minnesota’s next #1 pick (they don’t have their own pick next season).
I also added that I didn’t think Saunders would do any of those things, and I’m pretty sure I cannot actually force the Timberwolves to do anything they don’t want to.
I also don’ t know if the Warriors would do any of the things I’ve suggested.
But since I’ve typed them out again, I presume Minnesotans will come stomping at my digital door again demanding retribution. Warriors fans, maybe you can get mad at me, too.
he's going to be immune to the charms of Bourbon street and will terrorize hungover opposing backup guards at home all year long.
